The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1887-06-08
TIE OLD SOUTH.
:, BEAUTIFUL THIBUT& 10 HER
LITERATURE.

:, BEAUTIFUL TEIHUT't TO HEi
LITERATURE.
Halr-EorSotten Writers Who Were Giant
in Their D:.y--E;re Boys Of the Old SoUtl
III College Where Ewo Go Now--To'
sTuch of the Dollar Making Element OF
Top Now.
(Erom the Louisville coUrier-Journal.)
Within the past few years it has be
come the fashion among literary critic:
to deprec;ate the literature produced il
the South before the war, and to point
to ante-bcllum days as a period almost
barren Of literary achievement. Indeed
it has been with this fashion as with al
fashions-it has been exaggerated anc
overdone In our zeal to place the
laurel on the brow of the hero of to-day
we have forgotten his predecessors, and
we have whispered into his ear, ''Thou
art the first of thy race
Now far be it from my intention to say
aught against the fair name of the new
generation of writer's that has sprung ur
in the South since the war. No South
erner anywhere is prouder than [ am
OF such names as Thompson and
Craddock and Harris. But now, if with
the ancient Cleitus dare say to the
hero, s'Thy father, Philip, Of Macedon,
was also great man, y I hope I may not
meet the fate of that faithful, but too
bold, censor.
In offering a criticism Of anything
written in the South before the war, one
is confronted with an amount Of preiu-
dice which is indeed remarkable. The
average Sou.berner has formed his
opinion Of ante bellum literature not
from actual study of the literature itself,
but rather from the biased criticisms OF
Northern writers. He reads Grlswold,
and is told that Simms was g avolumlnous
writer, but entirely without literary
merit, and that Poe was q drunken and
conceited fool. From Stedman he learns
that Walt Whitman IS the ne plus ultra
of American poets, and that there was no
intellectual achievement n the South
before the war, Cor ''numan slavery was
the basis OF its physical life.
Examine the Library @: the tclerably
well read Soutnerner, asad what will you
find? There will be Bryant and Long
fellow. and Emerson and Hawthorne,
and all the rest Of lie Northern writer's.
But I would be surprised if you found
ANYTHING by Pee. and [ an sure you
would find notnin. By Washington
Allston or E. c. Pinllney, or Henry
TImrod OF Albert Pike. The thousand
and one volumes OF Cooper's novels
would be conspicuous, but you would
look IL vain for ''Swallow Barn" and
ssHorse Shoe Robinson" and ''AI&rtln
Faber" and ';Castle Dismal y
Now, surely such indifference is not
justified by a lack Of intrinsic merit in
our literature, and the Southern people
are doing themselves an injustice When
they allow themselves to be persuaded
thai there is anything in their literary
history to be ashamed OF.
IL 1860 that scholarly @nd accom-
plished writer, John Z. Ihompson-for
long time editor Of the Southern
Literary Messenger-entered into an
agreement with John Estcn Cook to
publish an edition of the "Poets and
Poetry of the South" But the war, that
bEghter OF hopes, came on.
"a wind came out Of the clouds by night,
Chilling and killing
and so the leaves, scarcely begun to be
gathered. we're scattered again. But they
we're the fresh leaves Of a noble and i'm.
passioned peoples spring time, and let
us for moment enjoy their fragrance.
Did you ever read Washington all
ston's "Sylphs Of the Seasons" and
ssThe Paint king?' They are wild ard
beautiful. You would divine they were
written by an artist, even If you did not
know that Anston was one OF the great
est of American painters. He is to us
what Dante Gabriel Rossetti IS to Eng
land-he is the palnter-pcet Indeed,
the soil of Carolina grew many sweet
and fragrant leaves. There were the
lyrics of the two Timrods, the book
binder and his son. When Washington
Irving read William Timsod's ode so
Time" he exclaimed, "Tom Moore has
written no finer lyric. "Autumnal Day
in Carolina" and "Sons Of the Union,
written during the qualification contro-
versy, and Henry Timrod's ''Tision Of
Poesy' and Rhapsody Of Southern
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